England only reveals Ash’s blueprint because Mark Wood is afraid to tear it apart

Eight days before the curtain rises on the Ashes in the sold-out enormous dome that is Perth’s Optus Stadium, England’s campaign began in semi-seriousness a few real miles and a million metaphorical miles away in front of a few dozen spectators in leafy, sedate Lilac Hill.

What followed was intriguing, even encouraging at times, but with news of a potentially significant injury, and although Ben Stokes had promised ‘balls to the wall’ action, it was more jaws on the ground as news of Mark Wood’s stiff left hamstring filtered through in mid-afternoon.

England had unveiled their blueprint for the first Test by naming a line-up with five seam options, including Stokes himself and no full-time spinner, with Shoaib Bashir demoted to the Lions XI. But no matter how carefully it is prepared, sometimes a blueprint is destined to become nothing more than shred fodder.

With Wood’s participation in next Friday’s opening Test in doubt and Bashir’s suddenly looking more likely, certainty has slipped through England’s fingers, just as a few catches did on a windy day on the Swan River. Brendon McCullum may have expected to get some food for thought here, but these may not have been the thoughts he was looking for.

While one England player raised concerns about his fitness, another dismissed them. Stokes was both the most successful and, next to Gus Atkinson, the hardest working of the English bowlers and seemed impeccable in bowling 16 overs and taking six wickets, all on short deliveries, all but one behind the wicket on the leg side.

“I think he was a little surprised,” Harry Brook said, “that everyone came out the same way.” Jofra Archer, the third of England’s trifecta of vulnerable fast bowlers alongside Wood and Stokes, had less impact but looked no less fluent, and was over in the middle of his 13th when he ended the innings by dismissing Matt Potts.

Beyond Stokes and the wicketless Wood, every England bowler managed a single victim as the Lions

Against England’s strongest available bowlers, but on a delivery that Brook described as “a bit slow”, the Lions finished with five half-centurions. But perhaps the most notable contribution with the bat was short and unremarkable as another short innings increased Bethell’s chances of elbowing Ollie Pope out of the first team.

Of Bethell’s last ten goals for England, only one lasted longer than the seventeen balls he encountered rather clumsily on his way to scoring two runs here before becoming Stokes’ second victim, and none yielded more than 26 runs. He may not be in the first team at the moment, but if one number three ended the day with their position in jeopardy, it was Bethell himself, as the rising star of England’s young batting constellation.

The Lions’ top scorers included Durham’s Ben McKinney, who turned 21 a few weeks ago and opened the innings in confident fashion before becoming Josh Tongue’s only scalp with 67 runs, and Somerset’s Thomas Rew, who turns 18 in a few weeks and scored 55 before becoming Gus Atkinson. Jordan Cox, whose place in Bethell’s Test squad forfeited after the Essex player broke a thumb in New Zealand a year ago – in another one-off warm-up match – scored 53 before he was tempted to indulge in one of Stokes’ diet of short balls.

While England could decide, should picking Wood end up being too much of a risk, to maintain balance in their blueprint by simply replacing him with Carse, Bashir may look more attractive given the frequent marmalisation that Joe Root’s part-time turn has brought. Jacks scored 84 off 85 balls with three sixes, all off Root’s bowling, while Potts produced a striking late-innings cameo, driving to his half-century in 40 balls by hitting Root for four consecutive sixes and then, in the following over, pulling Archer for another. Properly encouraged, he made no attempt to delay Archer’s next delivery and delivered Archer’s next delivery with a wildly swinging bat to a back-pedaling Zak Crawley who skidded.

“We obviously haven’t spent much time together over the last few months, so to get back together as a group and get out on the field, it was a successful day,” Brook said. “Hopefully tomorrow will be another beautiful day in Perth and hopefully we can pile up the runs. Not only will it be easy – we’ve got some great bowlers and the Lions guys, there’s a lot of their players here and some bowl rockets too. It won’t be light work there. It’s going to be a challenge and they’ll want to prove a point. So it’s going to be a test and hopefully we can get some decent runs.”